Sunday again!! The days just fly by don't they! That means we are busy and blessed! This week we did finally do some Valentines Day stuff though it was cut short pretty early on in the day. I"m pretty sure I did not get to it till Thursday. I left the kids bags of goodies at their seats in the kitchen so they would see them when we came down in the morning. They loved them! Grace had no idea what was going on and I just showed Tyler the calendar that we'd missed "Love" day and so we were doing it that day. He didn't care, he got candy. He'd celebrate Christmas in April if it meant presents and candy. He's 4. What do you expect!? I got them each these really cute Winnie the Pooh science/discovery books at the Dollar Tree. They each got two and I need to get ahold of the other ones so we have the complete set for Easter. I also got Tyler a Mickey Mouse clubhouse puzzle from dollar tree and stickers (Dora for Grace, Thomas for Tyler) and a bag of candy hearts for them to share. I had some valentine pencils packed away still from a couple years ago when my mom gave them to me so I sharpened them and put them in their bags too. They were so excited to get stuff and it was too cute. Not bad for $8!! I was a bit irritated though on Wednesday when I went to the Flower Factory in Canton and saw the SAME stickers for only 85 cents! I overpaid at the DOLLAR TREE!! Don't worry, i got more at Flower Factory. Easter's not too far away. :) SO I made the kids toast and was going to cut it into heart shapes and put jelly on it... well, i can't find my heart shaped cookie cutter anywhere! I really think I used to have 3 and now i can't find any of them. As I write this Gary's at Walmart wandering around looking for one. I hope being after Valentines Day he'll find that they are on sale... if not i'll add that to the FF list for future trips. :) So since i could not make heart-shaped toast, i could also not make heart shaped pancakes, sandwiches, or cookies so we pretty much ended the festivities with post-breakfast heart-shaped candies. (Tyler had insisted on using a cookie cutter on his toast so we had stars. It was stars or Santa's and I put my foot down on the Santa's. It's one thing to be still singing Rudolph but quite another to have Christmas shaped toast in February. Even for me.) I gave Tyler 4 or 5 candies and Grace one to see if she could eat it. I was RIGHT by her and watched her very closely and must have said 40 times, don't swallow! chew it up! They are very hard. She did fine but I did not give her more. They went off to play, I cleaned up and played with them a bit then decided to check my email. I was in the Living Room on the chair with the laptop when Tyler yelled "Mommy, Grace is touching the candies." I said "Push them back on the table where she can't reach them." He said "ok" and i could hear him moving them back. They were in zip locks. I said something to the affect of -did you do as i asked? and got an affirmative answer. So a few seconds later Grace walks by me and i hear this strange sound, like a crunching. So I said "Grace, what are you doing?" She turns around and her cheeks were completely bulging on both sides. I leaped out of the chair and had my finger in her mouth before she barely got turned around and I proceeded to pull out not one, not two or even four, but SIX heart shaped candies from her mouth. Yes, SIX. Take six out sometime and see how much that is and imagine it in a 21 month old girl's mouth. *sigh* of course it registered very quickly what was happening and so she tried to eat them quicker which meant she bit me! Ow!!! I told her NO and that she was not to touch the candies, and not to put things in her mouth without asking mommy. I told her also NO BITE and sent her to time out. She's a pistol that one. So our new thing is when one child is in time out (the bottom step) the other has to be in another room completely otherwise the time-out child will peek around the stairs and they'll play or talk and just get each other in trouble... or one will go visit the other and then before i know it they are wrestling on the time out stair. SO I told Tyler to go in the playroom, i rescued the laptop from where it had been not-so-gently placed when i took my flying leap off the chair. I give her about 2 minute time-out's because she can handle it and she's almost two and since this was a pretty strong double offense i decided to give her about 3. Well, a minute into it isn't Tyler back in the Living room sitting on his little chair in front of the window. I was keeping an eye on him ready to bust him for bothering Grace. He looked over at her and i was JUST about to tell him to go back to the playroom and leave her alone when he looked over at me. "Excuse me mommy, but Grace is taking her clothes off in time-out." Stifling a laugh, and picturing her with her arm out of her sleeper, i said "Grace, come here." She comes around the corner and is holding her entire sleeper in one hand. She'd unzipped it and gotten her arms and legs/feet out completely. I just burst out laughing. I couldn't help it. There she's standing in just her diaper and onesie holding her jammies looking SO proud of herself. I wish I had taken a photo. I told her to put them back on and she tried for a good 5 minutes! She's so stinking cute! Gary would wish me to assure you that we are most definitely going to put a very quick stop to Grace's stripping. :) I think it's great she's so independent about it because Tyler to this day won't take off his clothes on his own without threat of consequence. Grace on the other hand puts on her own "mits" and hat, and helps with every other clothing item. She's been pulling her pants down around her ankles and attempting pulling them back up awhile now so while this didn't surprise me, it certainly took me by surprise! It was a fun 3 minutes that still makes me smile. Wednesday I was blessed to have Connie come up for the day and scrapbook with me! I'd recently been given a most generous gift (thanks Melissa!) of 6 Creative memory storage containers and had re-organized all my stuff. It was a lot of fun to get to use everything and know where everything was like that! It took a bit to get used to but I did get 3 layouts done that day. I think that's pretty good for starting around 10:30 and finishing around 5 with kid interruption and of course visiting with Connie! :) I'm not good at conversing and scrapping at the same time. I've since done another layout and a half and have I think 3 more to finish the event i'm working on. I hope Gary will be able to find and purchase within some budget whatever it is we need to get our computer working! I can't access my photo's right now and the memory card on the camera is full. I deleted a few pictures from January to make room for the kids opening their valentine stuff but now I'm stuck. I hate being without my photos and being unable to even take more! For someone who has taken several thousand in some months, it's very hard for me to be without my camera for weeks on end! Friday I got to go with Steph and take the kids to pap's house where we did some deep cleaning. The kids showed increased signs of getting colds and came down with them for sure overnight into Saturday. Saturday was possibly our last trip to the cabin (and NO CAMERA!!!!!!!AHHHHHHHHH). We helped with some packing and got a van-load of stuff loaded to take to their house. We took a walk all together down to the lake and threw rocks, even Grace. She loves it too but they don't go far. :) We can recycle the rocks she throws b/c most of them don't even make it to the water from her stroller. Most of the lake is ice but there was a few feet of water on the edges. Steph had her camera and got a couple pictures, i really pray they come out well. We went to see Sydney play basketball at 1 but the kids were losing it quickly after the first game (which we only saw half of b/c we were a few minutes late and they started early! What tournament starts early!?!). The bush's stayed but we took the kids back for naps. After naps Grandma and Pops took one last walk with the kids down to the lake. We have a lot of great memories there but the memories truly have nothing to do with the actual cabin- it's just where the memories take place. The treasure is in the time we've spend there and the special things Grandma and Pops have done with the kids there. It's the rides on the boat, the walks and hikes and go-cart rides, the movies and campfires and get-together and throwing rocks in the lake. It's the things we've all done together- time spent- that is the treasure. Not where we did it or how much it cost, it's the time. That won't change. Grandma and Pops will still take time out to spend with the kids, play with them and do things they love- the treasure of Time. By the time we got home the kids were both coughing pretty bad and had runny noses, tired eyes and were just miserable. Our church did a ministry last night showing the movie "Fireproof" and Gary went to be available if anyone needed someone to talk to. He then had a 10:00 soccer game. I fed the kids and they were pretty much ready for bed even though they'd both napped and then sat an hour in the car. I kept Grace up till 8 which was incredibly difficult with the crying and whining. We played and read some books then watched some shows. I let Tyler watch a couple extras. His new favorite is this british Racecar named Roary- it's done by the same people who do Bob the Builder so it's that clay-mation. He's obsessed with that and the Fireman Sam-which takes place in Wales and they drive on the "wrong" side of the road- definitely a british show. Very cute though, and only 8 minutes an episode! These sprout on-demand things where we don't get the regular shows so we can only watch the same 5 on demand episodes over and over and over again. Which we have. :) I like that he still enjoys these slow paced shows, he's very easily overstimulated so we monitor his tv shows pretty close. He gets kind of scared when fires happen on the one but i talk through it all with him. We've done a lot of fire safety this month! :) He went to bed around 8:30 and from about 9:00, slept hard all night only waking a few times. They both coughed quite a bit through the night but seemed to do it in their sleep. Not wanting them to infect the other kids at church I kept them home. I've got a head cold too so I stayed with them, and Gary went to church. I also made a huge pot of Broccoli Cheese soup! yum!! I'll be eating it for a year b/c Gary does not like this kind of soup. I hope the kids do b/c they will be eating it once a week or so till summer! or longer! Gary's home... no cookie cutters. Boo! Oh well, i guess another trip to Flower Factory is in order!! I"m praying hard for just the right person to take with me... can you say FAIRLAWN!!!!

I can't believe we just completely missed Valentines Day. The entire past 9 days have blurred into one. I'm very thankful that Gary had today off because we needed this family and rest day. Gary's just the greatest in the world, i have to tell you. He let me sleep in this morning, got both the kids up and fed and dressed. I was awake around 9:30 but was able to lay in bed relaxing, read my Bible and roll out of bed just after 10 to shower and get dressed. He also picked up the toy room and vacuumed the downstairs. I"m amazed! Gary's not one to sit ALL day so we did head out to Target to get our monthly stash of Target band diapers and Luv's for night. I was very excited that we also got light bulbs and i got a cheese grater. The simple things huh? I got pretty expensive one and already feel guilty but I promise to use it a lot. We all took a nap today when we got home and now we're watching HGTV and playing. Why we torture ourselves watching these people buy million dollar homes i don't know. :) It's almost time for a kids show. :) I have a few things i got the kids for valentines day that I think I will do for them tomorrow. I never made heart shaped cookies or sandwiches or valentines or anything. I spent Monday with my mom and then we had that meeting to go to, and Tuesday everything began with Grandma. My mom brought me these great valentine decorations and I had window decals for the door and just never put them up. :( This past week was very emotional and difficult-more so than i anticipated. Grandma was in very poor health and was unable to enjoy her family there at the end, it's best for her to be done with her earthly suffering and at peace and renewed in Heaven. Even having that assurance of her salvation and place in heaven, letting her go was so hard. Seeing the family we love letting her go was even harder. I cried most for Pap. That man loved his wife in a way that is rarely seen in our society anymore. He loved her with his whole being. This was the first time in our marriage to deal with something of this magnitude. We were both very close to Grandma, i loved her as i love my own grandma's. It was harder than I expected to be there for Gary and deal with my own grief on my own. We handle grief in completely opposite ways. Gary needs to stay busy with simple things as he reflects and grieves on his own, and at his own pace. I like to talk things out, reminice and cry a lot. Gary's relationship to them was clearly deeper and it was difficult to know how to support him best. On top of that we had the children to think about. I'm so very thankful for the people who were willing to step up and take such good care of the kids while we needed to be gone. They were in someone else's care Monday, Tuesday, and Friday evening, out with us away from home on Thursday, and with my mom during the funeral saturday. She brought them to the luncheon and by then we were both more than ready to get to see them and spend time with them again and let the rest of the family enjoy them. We were also very tierd and so were they. I am ever so thakful to have children who can be in someone else's care so much and not be adversly affected. I will say we all need a fast/junk food detox! We also did our best to support Gary's brother, Lia, and especially Stephanie and Gary too. We're blessed to have family like we do and I'm so very thankful to my parents and brother. They sent flowers and covered us with prayer. My mom's help was HUGE and my dad came to the viewing to show his support as well. Having them in my corner means the world to me. We also had friends pryaing for us both which we appreciate greatly.

SALEM-Evelyn M. Kandray, 77, of Columbiana, died Wednesday at Blossom Nursing Center. Born Nov. 17, 1931, in Wilkinsburg, Pa., she was the daughter of William and Grace (Swarner) Wagner. Mrs. Kandray was a homemaker and a member of St. Jude Catholic Church. Survivors include her husband, William Kandray, whom she married Oct. 20, 1951; two daughters, Stephanie (Gary) Bush of Alliance and Lori (Bruce) Foraker of Durham, N. C.; four sons, Michael (Stephanie) Kandray of Winston Salem, N. C., Mark (Mary) Kandray of McHenry, Ill., Bob (Carrie) Kandray of Marienville, Pa., Dan (Tammie) Kandray of Gnadenhutten; a brother, James Wagner of Butler, Pa.; 18 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Services will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday at St. Jude Catholic Church in Columbiana with the Rev. Thomas Ziegler officiating.Burial will be in Columbiana Cemetery. Visiting hours will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at the Seederly-Mong and Beck Funeral Home in Columbiana. The family suggest that material tributes be made to St. Jude Catholic Church. Friends may visit www.seederly-mongandbeck.com to view this obituary, sign the guest register or send condolences online.

3:12... finally getting around to watching the Grammy's. My DVR says it's 3 hours 30 minutes...i predict i can cut 2 hours of it out with my favorite button FF ... i really should be cleaning up the house and working on laundry which seems to mass produce itself. I remember a time when I looked forward to these award shows for weeks. I find it incredibly boring and strange now. Am I really so old? I still love music and like a large variety, music feeds the soul in so many ways. It seems somehow to be just a lot of lights, glitter, too-short-skirts, and lame jokes. Enjoy my running commentary because the laptop keeps me warm. :) * Jennifer Hudson, just love her, and loved her speech. Too bad she left her dinner napkin on as a bib... who dresses these poor women? She's gorgeous, why would she wear that?! *Love Al Green. Add in a little JT and it's a good thing. yay. *coldplay... i just don't get it. *Carrie Underwood! MAN that girl can sing! Not loving her dress/shorts/whatever but she's one of those girls that looks like a 10 with no makeup and a burlap sack. *Seriously I can't take these clothes... skirts 12 inches above the knee and a crowd of crazy people standing below them... i always wonder, what kind of underwear do these people wear?? *Coldplay, still don't get it... are they trying to recreate the Beatles? People must like them... *Taylor Swift and Miley! how fun! Not wanting to be 15 again i'll tell you that! *Hudson's performance dress is much better. God bless her. *JB...the new N'Sync... yup, it's official. I'm old. *YAY Kenny!! *blah blah blah *OH MY GOSH no offense, not being a hater, but rap is NOT my cup of tea... especially with a woman 12 months pregnant wearing a polka dot bikini... sorry. *blah blah blah FINALLY!! JT!!! bummer.... looked like it might be real music but then more rap. :( Oh well, it's still worth watching! Something about the way he puts together a performance always impresses me. I may not like his music all the time but the man has style and he's a true artist. *love me some MOTOWN!! I'm looking at these adolescents in the front mosh pit area and laughing because i know they have NO idea what these songs are these men are singing. *Neil Diamond! his voice is so sexy, better to just listen than to look at him, he's gotta be pushing 70 by now. Oh, what happened to music? The subjects are the same, love, drugs, sex, heartbreak but it's what's behind it that has changed. Makes me sad. Sweet Caroline... what a classic! *legends, it's always sad to see who's passed. It always surprises me how many of the older generations i recognize names for. Bo Diddly was really before his time wasn't he? Talk about innovation and being an artist... *Robert Plant, who'd've thunk it...excellent ending. *oh, can't forget Stevie... I'm a rock star at the FF button!! 4:32!! and that's WITH typing!! *I've never even heard of half of these people. Unless you're born overseas or in Memphis you are not likely to ever win a Grammy. *I'm starting to wonder if you can go back and watch Grammy's from 1996. That I might enjoy a little more. As they say in L.A... Peace out!

We appreciate prayers for our family as well as the Kandray family.

Evelyn Kandray passed away yesterday morning.

Family is traveling in today,

the viewing hours will be Friday evening,

and the funeral Saturday.

We know she knew the Lord Jesus Christ as her personal savior

and is in Heaven today.

We pray for the family and that above all else,

God would be glorified in her death as he was in her life.

Happy February! The kids are playing nicely together so i'll attempt to recall some of the things i wanted to record. I tend to think in the middle of housework or a cute kid moment, "i should write that down!!" and then i sit here to do so and can't for the life of me remember what to write. :) I had such a wonderful time on my girls day out Saturday. We went to P. Graham Dunn and I got TWO paintings on sale! It was so much fun to see all the beautiful things they make and get a tour of the work area. I'd really like to go back and take Gary and the kids and several other people who I know would enjoy it. Gary took the kids to get a car wash which is like an amusement park trip for Tyler. He went on and on and on and on some more about it. They also went to Burger King as you saw from pictures posted this weekend. Tyler was very sure to tell me numerous times that they had SIX cheeseburgers and Daddy even let them get desert!! Sunday morning when I bathed him before church I found chocolate on his ear so i'm assuming he enjoyed it fully. They love daddy days and Gary's so good about taking them out. I find it ironic that when i plan a day at home Tyler wants to go somewhere and when we spend all day out and about and get home late (like 9:30 last night!) he is crying because " We didn't even get to play at home!". We're gearing up for Valentines over here. I'm not sure what exactly i'm going to do this week but I've been trying to gather things since Christmas. :) My mom brought me some things to hang around the house, we can't hang them on the windows because we covered our windows in plastic.... hmmm. I got a couple little things at the $tree for the kids and hope to make some sort of bag for them to do valentines just us with. I've got doilies i've had oh, probably 10 years or more... they may have even come from my parents house to my house. I also have construction paper and other junk they can use. I almost got valentines at the $tree too but figured it was a waste. They didn't have any kids that stuck me as something the kids would love. I hope to make some heart shaped cookies for the kids and friends to decorate this Friday but we'll just have to see how motivated I am! Today is rainy and just feels like a good day to curl up on the couch with a good book. Last night we attended our first ever Elders meeting. It'll be my last till another time with the wives comes along, i believe only once a year. It was a very good time actually! We worked on church goals for the year and some are pretty specific which I think is good. I was very surprised that the wives had such an active roll in this meeting, i was expecting we'd all eat and then the wives would go to another room and visit while the 'men got down to buissiness'. :) That was not it at all!! Gary's grandma had a stroke a little over a week ago and has not been doing well ever since. It's so sad to see the drastic changes in her each time we go. I'm so thankful we live close by so we can go visit her as often as we like. She's been such a blessing to the other residents there, they all love her and pap and steph who visit often. The staff love them too. Even as her physical body grows ill it's such a wonderful thing to know that she has the Lord Jesus in her heart and knows him as her personal savior and someday we can serve Him together in heaven, for eternity! It's a very sad situation but there is hope ahead. We have no idea when the 'good Lord' will call her home but we're appreciating every moment we have with her. My prayers go most for Pap... to have to truly let your most precious loved one go and leave them in God's hands and be left here without them must be one of the most heartbreaking things a person could ever go through. There are many other things going on which I don't want to take the time to get into, but I do want to share some things about the kids, my reason for sitting down here after all. (what time was that I wonder? how many interruptions ago?) Grace is all girl and Tyler is all boy and I love it. It's so so fun at this age to see them do things that make us say "Just like daddy!" or "Just like mommy!" to each other. Grace's favorite toys are shoes. She will wear any shoes in the house if we let her. My fear of her breaking her ankle limits it quite a bit but she can even get her own shoes on most of the time! Tyler went through this phase too but what sets Grace apart is that she likes to choose what shoes to wear when we go out. If I sit her up on her changing table and get her dressed and let her choose she'll always choose the one that matches better and repeat the color of the shoe while pointing. Her favorites are her new brown flower shoes, which were supposed to be spring shoes but she wears them all the time, and her pink tennis shoes. Oh! and her "bippers" for during the day of course. Tyler wants to do nothing more than run from the front door to the back door pretending he's a race car all day long. My mom came to visit yesterday and the kids did nothing more than run. They played really well together so she and I could visit which was nice. Grace's new sayings I want it that's why big lovey (with hand motions- no idea where she got that!) love mommy, love daddy, love lovey, love Jesus, love pops, love mamma, love papa When I check the Kelloggs blog she gets all excited and dances around then runs over and yells JOSH! ACKEE! FAFF!! josh josh josh baby faf ACKEE!!!!!! She points to the pictures and then Tyler comes over and mimics her. too cute. She's named one of her baby dolls Faf and it's the one that has to be in bed with "melmo" and "baby aamy" (her lambie Lori got her for Christmas). I try to let her play with them downstairs and purposely leave one or two down there so she does not become attached and need all of them when we travel. That happened with Tyler. He had to have his "kiki", binky, and like three animals and it was a royal pain to wean him off of each one. :) She calls her blankie a "baby" which makes it very confusing when we are playing babies! :) She likes to feed them, put them to bed and then lay down with them and say "nigh-nigh!" She and Tyler pretend to nap in the empty toy bins with pillows, blankets and books. I find that to be highly amusing b/c the quiet moments are so short and they don't get books in bed (except Tyler on 'rest' non-nap days). Well, i've been on and off of here trying to post something that makes sense and is slightly interesting for several hours. Nurses called from the nursing home to Steph telling her to get there as soon as possible so she left work to go and after she called me, I called Gary and he too left work to go be there. We appreciate your prayers. God bless!

Grace in her new sweat shirt

Tyler putting his crown at BK

Grace putting on her crown at BK

Today Heather got a much needed break and went out with some girl friends. She was getting to go to P. Graham Dunn (click the link to learn more) workshop and gallery. They make Inspirational wood carvings. She is really into this type of thing. I have no doubt she had a great time. In fact, she has not returned yet so it must have been fun. This means that I got to watch and entertain the kids all by myself. I had a great time and they were very well behaved. As always, when I am by myself, I took them out to eat. We ended up at the Burger King in alliance after getting the car washed. We tried the new mini cheese burger six pack combo and we loved them! While there I took pictures of them both with their crowns on. I hope to post these pictures soon. When we returned to home watched a couple of episodes of Roary the Racing car (click the link to learn more). This has become Tyler's new favorite. It is a pretty cute show. Well, I need to get going.

Good Evening! I love January! Usually I hate it but this year i've decided to embrace the fact that I am the type of mom who prefers to be home. I prefer to not be driving my kids all over kingdom come, at least at this age. I love that I have friends who have thier kids involved in a lot of things and I see such great rewards in that type of lifestyle, but it's just not for me-right now. I don't feel guilty about it anymore. At least today. :) Gary had a snowday on Friday since it was -11 degrees PLUS windchill!! BRR!!! he also has tomorrow off for MLK day so it's been a nice little mini vacation for us! We even said Thursday night we should have traveled somewhere! :) Congratulations to Kelsey and her baby number FOUR born yesterday! I can't wait to go see her and get to hold her! We also got to see our cousin Nikki and her baby Elizabeth who's almost ONE already. I can't get over it. Grace is 20 months today. She's almost TWO!?! Where has the time gone?! How can I make it slow down!?!? :) We're truly blessed and thankful for each and every day. Tonight while feeding Grace I had a 'thought'. This will make you mom's laugh. I always hear about how men are built for war. They just have to go to battle in one way or another. men are made for it. I get that and sure see God's wisdom in it. However, i think one way to "heal" them of it would be to make them stay home all day every day with some toddlers. You go to battle over jumping on the couch, putting the toilet seat down, eating your green beans, not screaming in the van and about a thousand other things every day, you're way to tired to go marching across some field killing other men. :) I just thought it was funny. Men are made for battle physically, but women are made for it too. Just in different ways. Tonight the Steelers are the AFC Champions!! Gary's dad, Uncle Mike, brother and Lia are there. It's got to be freezing but what an experience to get to see your favorite team (especially true for Uncle Mike!!) achieve that at home! I really don't care for football all that much, a side affect of growing up in Cleveland where frankly, football is nothing to cheer about round here. We do have a bit of a connection now to the Steelers through Lia though and i'm excited that Mike gets to be there for this. Gary's dad however, is going to be very tired this week! We expect he'll get home around 1 am and has to get up around 5am to go to work. We had the cold bug around the house big time this week. Grace has had more nasal drip than seems possible. However, she learned for real how to blow her nose! She's been doing it occasionally for awhile but now she's really getting it! It's SO cute somehow and so very helpful. She does better for her daddy of course... daddys girl through and through. i'm veryt hankful that the illness did not turn into this flu thing we've been hearing so much about. I hear this years flu is particularly nasty. Have a wonderful week everyone! Happy Birthday Dad!

Phillipians 4: 4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Happy Birthday Jodi Hurlow!! We had a wonderful whirlwind visit to Mansfield. I cry every time we leave there but where we are is definitely "home". We're so very blessed to have such wonderful friends, most of them just happen to live over an hour away in several directions. We went to celebrate Jodi, watch the game *sob- OSU lost*, sleep a little, and back home so Gary could get to work. For several years i've been keeping track of the books I read annually. I used to post them on MySpace but since i'm trying to do better keeping this blog updated (THANK YOU to my readers! Hi Shari!! Hi Amy!! Hi Hannah! Hi Jackie! Grandma, are you reading!?!) I'm going to post it here... ignore it. ;) This blog helps me to journal and keep track of what's going on in life so someday when my kids ask me questions about their lives I can have them read it. I also hope it helps me when I get around to scrapbooking their lives... you know, in 2040 or so. :) Feel free to skim past the stories of "what we did today". Today Giant Grace destroyed my train and crashed it into a "mountain!" She was sorry though so she put all the trains and tracks away for me. :) I've also drunk about a gallon of play "tea" (air- not toilet or any other water as the forward I got a few months ago suggests) She then put her babies to bed and now we're "patting" with Little Einsteins. She pats and sings through the show (the 3 minutes she sits still) and Tyler stares at the TV as if the rest of the world has melted away and he's IN the show. So cute! Her favorite word this week is "NO!" and my favorite she says is "bi-bber" which translates to "slipper". Tyler's favorite activity of late is the new Story Reader we got in the mail Saturday. It reads books and you turn the page- kind of like the records we had as a kid... which I still have. {Anyone have a working record player that plays 33 1/3rd's? } Anyways, he's listened to each story a minimum of 6 times now. I was leery of it at first, as I am of all things that require a battery or electric to work. Not only did the sender include batteries, but it's really been fun for him and encouraging his love of books so it's a win-win! Grace was playing while I was teaching Tyler today and when we were writing on the chalkboard she came over and was making circles (kind of) and was babbling so while Tyler practiced his shapes I wrote her name and said it to her and spelled it to her and she repeated all the letters! I couldn't believe it, so i had her repeat letters for me- she can say almost the whole alphabet! She's so funny how she'll try anything. :) Book List 2008- Heather The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe ~CS Lewis The Wind In the Willows- a kid version testing as a RA Harry Potter book 3,4,5,6,7 ~J.K. Rowling A Merry Heart ~Brunstetter Looking for a Miracle ~"" Plain and Fancy ~"" The Hope Chest ~"" Queen of Babble ~Cabott Someday ~Kingsburry The Wedding ~Sparks Searching for Eternity ~Musser Crossroads ~Hannon An Honest Life ~ A Voice in the Wind ~Rivers An Echo in the Darkness ~"" Leather and Lace ~Mills Lanterns and Lace ~Mills Lightning and Lace ~Mills Captivating Confessions of a Shopaholic Texas Charm ~Mills One Night with the King ~Tenny Parenting isn't for Cowards ~Dobson The Secret Life of Becky Miller ~Hink Wedding at Wildwood ~Worth Renovating Becky Miller ~Hink Shopaholic Takes Manhattan Shopaholic Ties the Knot Queen of Babble in the Big City ~Cabott Homeschooling the Early Years ~Linda Dobson Dakota Born ~ Real Life Homeschooling ~Barfield Flee the Night Sunset ~Kingsburry Going Home ~Brunstetter The Strong-Willed Child ~Dobson? On Her Own ~Brunstetter A Sisters Secret ~ "" Multiple Blessings ~Gosselin Dear to Me ~Brunsetter Allison's Journey ~"" A Sisters Test ~"" A Holiday to Remember OT: Exodus, Leviticus NT: Mark, Luke, Acts - Philemon,

Our only Family Photo we got during Christmas! ~thanks Jackie!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Gary has to go back to work tomorrow! BOO!! He's more than ready. He's already in work mode thinking about what he's got going on this week and preparing for meetings and trying to widdle down his masses of emails. We had another wonderful week and it was nice to just be close to home. As much as we love to travel and see people, we also love to be home. Gary went into work M,T,W last week and I worked hard to get the house re-organized and find homes for the toys. We also decided to have a semi-last minute new years eve get together. It's pretty hard to find people who want to give up a New Years Eve to babysit, and then really-where would we go? We're not into drinking or crowds so we decided to try out having some friends over and letting them stay the night. I thought we were going to be just us for a short time as illness was taking friends out but in the end they all came and the cleaning was back in full force! I figured either way we'd kick off the new year with a semi-clean, somewhat organized house. It's been wonderful. Anyways, I called Gary shortly after noon on Wednesday and said "GET TO THE STORE AND GET HOME THEY ARE ALL COMING!!!" We had such a wonderful time and all the kids were so well behaved. It was a lot of work but so so so worth it. I also finally, after several years, got Gary to stay up till midnight without any manipulation whatsoever! Amazing what a temporary x-Box will do. :) I also learned how to play Euchre! Even in our smallish apartment everyone was comfy and certainly cozy. Tyler got to try out his new Lightning McQueen sleeping bag which he LOVES. He thought having a sleepover with Grace in mommy and daddy's room was the coolest thing ever and really had a difficult time understanding why we didn't want to go to bed with him at 9. :) We decided to take advantage of the good weather (ie- no ice or snow) and head to the cabin this weekend. We went on Friday and while the kids napped had our January household budget meeting. It's funny how important it is for our finances to function, and yet so much of it is based on assumptions. We're assuming Gary's going to keep his job and pay rate according to his contracted scale. We're also assuming our rent and utilities won't go up drastically and we're assuming gas won't go over 3$ this calendar year. Seems doable as of today but who knows? Of course we're also assuming our Mansfield renters will stay, pay rent and the house won't need any drastic repairs. That's a lot of assuming and you know what they say about that... We kind of live on that mantra that life is what God gives you after you make your plans. So we make our plans using the wisdom we've got and leave the rest in God's hands. Or try to. The Bush's made it later in the evening and we enjoyed some time with them. The lake is partly frozen so we all got quite a science lesson this weekend! First of all we learned that independent Armandina can in fact walk almost a half a mile in boots (to the lake and back). I carried her a little bit but honestly not much. She would have none of it! Tyler, of course, ran most of the way, also in boots. We got down tot he lake and some of it is drained for the winter so we were able to stand on the ground of the lake in the spot where the boats usually are docked. We pretended to touch the bottom of the "boat". We also learned that the heavier the rocks, the better chance they have of breaking through the ice. We also experimented in ways of throwing them. There was some cracked ice on the edges and i grabbed a pretty large chunk and got a lesson of my own. When you throw ice on ice it shatters and slides for a very long distance! It also makes the most amazing sounds! I'd never seen anything like it! With so few people (we saw 2 other walkers and a dog across the lake but that's all!), no boats or car or air traffic it was SO quiet! The rocks we threw made neat sounds too. From the cabin to the lake is mostly a downhill walk on a blacktop/gravel road. Tyler seems so big and grown up to me but God showed me just how small we all are. Tyler ran ahead of me and once past the houses, with the lake, and the hills and forests around him, my Tyler looked so tiny. His creation is just so vast and majestic and it was just so amazing. I took the kids (by myself mom!) for a walk down to the lake while Gary unloaded the van and got their beds together. The four of us and Stephanie went the next morning as well and Tyler and his Pops got to go a third time on Saturday. They found some fish frozen in the ice! One of the things i love most about the cabin is that they get NO TV reception. No antenna channels, no cable, no cell phone service, no Internet. Nothing. We can watch VHS's and DVD's but that's it! They do get a few radio stations but not many. We pretty much have no other choice but to relax. We make meals, read, visit and sleep. Ahhh.... we watched Prince Caspian Friday Night and i really really enjoyed it. Well, the kids are ready to get up from their Sunday naps so I'd better get in gear for dinner and the rest of the evening. I hope everyone has a wonderful week! God Bless!

Good morning! I'm sitting on the couch in my new yoga pants and robe typing on Gary's work laptop. Ahh... I love this week of the year. The Christmas rush is over and Gary is off (so he works 5 hours a day instead of 10). The kids have all new toys to play with so they don't notice me smuggling old ones away to pack away or box to donate. They also don't need me to entertain them yet so I can actually get some things done! Like blog!? We'll see... The tree is still up. I'm not too into the artificial scene but with a small place, allergies of friends and family and the ability to keep it up for 2 months if i want to, artificial wins. Plus it's paid for! It's like buy one get 80 free. The shopper in me has to think of it that way. :) Ahh... the end of December. I'm so thrilled it's not -6 and icy. I just love being relaxed. I love thinking and reminiscing about the past year and looking forward to the next. It's like a mini-vacation time that often turns out to be one of my best reflection times of the year. This winter it has occurred to me almost daily how quickly time flies. A year ago I was panicked that Tyler might NEVER be fully potty trained. The day a boy turns 3, if he's not potty trained the mother apparently grows an extra head based on the way people look at you. :) I have a friend who had a "two headed" incident recently. Apparently the people who volunteer at her church have more knowledge about what her daughter should eat than her. *sigh* so many well meaning people in the world. It's all how you take it I suppose. Anyways, you'll be happy to know Tyler's fully potty trained and I can't even remember the last accident. Can I get an AMEN!?! Yes, time flies. A year ago I was nursing my baby girl and now she's running around and talking up a storm. She's feeding herself and tries to dress herself. She's obsessed with shoes and books. She's my mini-me. :) Tyler is on the verge of being able to read. He knows all his letters and sounds and can sound things out but often doesn't have the patience for it. He's only 4 so I'm not pushing it. He astounds me every day with how smart he is. The things he says sometimes... We're so blessed! In everything our goals are to share Jesus Christ and the Bible with our children and model for them a Christian walk and the miracle of a personal relationship with Christ. Sometimes I feel like this all goes over their heads and hangs out in the backyard somewhere but I got some affirmation this week from the Lord. Christmas Eve Tyler expressed an interest, not for the first time, about asking Christ into his heart. Every time it comes up we talk it through and we try to pray with him, and this time just seemed like it came more from his heart. I don't know how much he truly understands, but then again, none of us truly know or understand the mind and heart of God. It was just so special to hear him talk about spiritual things and, with the faith of a child, come to the feet of Jesus and simply ask forgiveness for his sins and ask Jesus to come into his heart. A play at church had really resonated with him and more than 2 hours after seeing it, he still understood it's message enough to bring it up, talk about it, answer our questions, and pray with us. What a miracle for Christmas! A couple days after Christmas a woman i truly admire for her walk with the Lord told me that she admires the way we integrate Christ into the daily lives of our kids at such a young age. She said it wasn't something she'd thought about really, but she said something to the affect of seeing the results of it in everything Tyler does and says. Ironically as she said this he was screaming like a banshee running around having fun and I probably showed a look of doubt on my face. I'll tell you honestly, that comment has stayed with me and has brought me to tears several times. As a perfectionist I often look at my family of 4 and see only what I want to change and I don't stop to see the good nearly enough. To have someone compliment our efforts as parents in an area that is THE most important meant the world to me. We try our best. Even though I may over think and over analyze and run my life by the schedule- it works for me. So as we go into the new year we'll do our traditional budgeting meeting, we'll swim through mountains of junk in the basement and try to give it a home but this year I think I'll focus more, not on what we didn't accomplish but on what we DID accomplish. We love each other and our children. We are teaching them to love Christ and others and we're doing our very best to walk with the Lord. So it doesn't' matter how many verses Tyler has memorized or how many words he can think of that rhyme with "hat". It 's not about how many words Grace can say or how many teeth she has or even how many loads of clean clothes are up in my room unfolded. It's so easy when you have small children to judge the value of the day by how many veggies each kid ate and whether daddy trips on toys when he comes home from work. Those things are certainly important and the sin of laziness has surely invaded our house 10fold this year. As my efforts to be a better, more organized, less lazy mom continues on into next year I'm also going to make an effort to focus more on eternity. Not because of a compliment, but because we both want our kids to experience true joy and peace that comes from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and we want to experience it too!

Merry Christmas!!

This year I think I'm more excited for Christmas than I've been since childhood. The kids are at a perfect age that traveling should be less hectic and they will really enjoy everything. Not to mention I know the kids will be getting an obscene amount of gifts which will make playtime very fun for me!! This is the first year since we've been married (as far as I recall...) that we've not done Christmas cards, letters or photos. We ran out of time for photos and cards and as far as a letter- well, this is the first year no one has graduated, we've not changed jobs, moved, bought a house, gotten pregnant or had a baby! This has been a quiet year so to speak! :) We've enjoyed receiving cards, photos and letters and greatly appreciate them! We're doing well here in the Bush Household. Heather plugs away at homeschooling Tyler and finding a good balance between play, school, friends, family, and housework. Gary's still loving his job working with technology for the Marlington School district. It has it's challenges but he's thriving there and we're so proud of him. He also ventured into the position of Adjunct Professor at Stark State this year. He loved teaching but the nights away from home were very tough. We're very thankful that our house we own in Mansfield is still rented out to a wonderful couple who care for it. Economic struggles have affected them greatly and we believe the house has been a great blessing to them. However, those struggles make for late and later rent payments. We continue to (try to) trust in the Lord and thank Him for each month the payments do come. Currently they are caught up and we are thrilled and thankful! We are also thankful this year to be so close to my brother who moved back to Ohio last December. It's been so wonderful having the "whole" family together more often! Gary's brother graduated from Law School and passed the Bar Exam and we are so proud of him! He's got a wonderful job and we're prayerful and excited about what the future has for him. Gary's grandmother has been struggling with health problems and has been moved to a nursing home, but she is strong and is doing increasingly well. We really enjoy getting to go visit her since we live so close. Our parents are all doing well and love every minute they can get with the grandkids. Gary and I look forward to our kids having great relationships with all their grand and great-grand parents through their lives. This year we made trips for a Kandray Family reunion, our annual Outer Banks week, took the kids to Cedar Point with Uncle Joshua and Grandma Sandra, spent some time at "Papa's Beach", aka Lake Erie, traveled a couple times to Mansfield and Pittsburgh areas to see friends. We continue to be active at Grace Community Church and became members this year We celebrated Grace's first birthday in May and Tyler's fourth birthday in November. Our Congratulations to all our friends and family members for all the amazing things 2008 has brought you. Know that we constantly lift you all up in prayer for the challenges of the past, present and future. We ask you to do the same for us. We wish all of our family and friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. In His Grace, Gary, Heather, Tyler, and Armandina (Grace) Bush Luke 2:1-20

Thanksgiving Thoughts

November has already been a very busy month! We celebrated Tyler's birthday of course, and Great- Grandma Kandray's birthday too. That was such a special day for me. Last weekend we got to attend the wedding reception of Chris and Melissa Glynn and it was SO much fun. We were positively giddy to be out without the kids- not that we don't adore and love our kids to bits but we needed a break and what better way to get a break than at a romantic reception with free alcohol?!?! :) Gary doesn't drink but I think in spite of his ribbing he finds it quite humorous when I do. he calls me "his lush" which I slightly take offense too because i'm really NOT at all but I know he means it in good humor... I don't want to get ahead of Melissa on posting pictures (it WAS her big day after all) so i'll wait till she has some up here or in facebook before I share mine... or till I get permission from her. :) Sunday we made a quick trip to Mansfield to visit Crossroads because the director of worship from Saddleback Church in California was there leading Crossroads' worship team and it was incredible. That church will always feel like home to us. We walked in the door and Lori Biddle was there and she always has a way of making us feel missed and valued which means so much to us both. We saw so many people who hugged us and asked us how we were and it really meant a lot. If you were one of those people and you are reading this- thank you. I wish we'd have been able to stay longer and visit with more people (and been able to give more advance notice!!) but it was such a blessing to be back. We got to see Ben and Amy and their foster boys who just melted my heart. I"m thankful beyond words to have gotten to meet them. I feel like i knew them already since i've been praying for them so much but to actually get to see and talk to them and hold the baby and feed him just meant to much. Thank you Ben and Amy for making time to see us and share your lives with us. You guys are such an inspiration and blessing to us I can't even begin to describe. We drove by MCS and saw the new addition and I cried. If we still lived there I'd be looking into sending him there... i might even be volunteering there right now and maybe watching some of my friend's kids in the area... it's just so strange to have some of your heart there. We have bits of our hearts all over the nation... California, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, north Carolina, Arizona, Georgia, Florida, all over ohio and pennsylvania... even England and Cambodia!!! I'm sure i've missed someone... I share this because I wanted to take time today to thank you all for the blessings you are and the lessons you teach us. We are who we are today because of each person who has impacted our lives. I know sometimes I feel invisible adn I think everyone goes through those times. This Thanksgiving (or whenever you read this and even if you don't) I pray you know that you have touched my life and I"m thankful for you by name. Also know you are in my prayers. We're so very blessed! I lastly wanted to thank each and every one of you for your prayers over the past 3 years for our house in Mansfield. We still own it, and still owe on it but we've been blessed with Gary's job(s) to be able to "afford" it and while sacrificing is never easy, i think it's been a character building and marriage building experience. We've gotten the privilege of sacrificing in obedience to Christ and in that we've drawn closer together and to Him. We've also had the privilege of seeing the house bless a family who has cared for it even when they've not paid rent. I'm happy to share that they are caught up and current on rent as of this month. The blessing of those renters has allowed us to pay some extra towards the principle of the house this year as well as purchase and pay off our van. We hope to continue to pay off the house and don't think we don't appreciate how far God has brought us in our short time financially. To finally be in a place where all the sacrificing has led us to not living paycheck to paycheck (as long as rent is current!) is something we are daily thankful to the Lord for. To our friends who look to a time when they can say the same, know i"m praying for you and know that it will be worth it someday!!! We know that we are only a few months away from being back where we were so we do our best to stay diligent and even though we screw up ( A LOT- can you say fast food?!?!) we thankful. Lastly, thank you to all of you who have listened to me vent and complain and whine about the sacrifices. We wish you and yours a happy thanksgiving and though it's full of sacrifice, may you find something in YOUR life to be thankful for that God has brought you through!

We had a small get together yesterday for family to celebrate Tyler's birthday.  He had a wonderful time.  Today we had church in the morning but after nap today we took him to Chuck-E-Cheese's and he loved it!  We also went to Toys R Us to get him his free birthday club balloon and cash in his $3 off gift card.  Three matchbox cars for free!   He said it was a very special birthday trip and we know he had a wonderful time.

Enjoy a few photos...

at the end of the party playing with the track Uncle Joshua and Papa built.  He got several new trains and a couple new pieces for his existing track.  He also got an expansion pack which isn't even opened yet!!

At the party with his cake- it split down the middle when I lifted it off the stove and brought it to the table.   :(

He still loved it.

Tyler this morning with his birthday balloon.  He's really four...

Happy

FOURTH

 Birthday

 Tyler! 

We love you!!

OCTOBER!?!!? I can't believe it's already over?! When did it even begin? This month was full of fun times for the Bush family. As always. :) We celebrated Gary's birthday and had fun trick or treating. We also spent some time with grandparents and went to the Algonquin mill festival. We tried to play outside often and had friends over when we could. We're still learning and growing and changing every day! We're again having struggles with our renters. We thought we had a company interested in purchasing the house but they didn't. They wanted to do a deal that left us liable and was very risky on our end and we said no. We'd rather own the house and know we're taking responsibility for the loan we purchased and pay it off than to risk someone taking it for a time and then getting it back! Our goal is financial freedom, not waiting around to see if the company really paid each payment like they "promised". Our renters are taking great care of the house but are behind on utilities and paying rent and we're very frustrated. Again. Pray that they either get their finances in order or leave quietly... an eviction hassle is not what we asked for for Christmas! :) Both of Gary's jobs are going well and he enjoys them. The stress is there (like how do you fix a 6 building school district worth of computers and networks with a 0$ budget?) but it's a good challenge for him and he's made a lot of great relationships. Speaking of relationships we've had many friends in the recent past go through some MAJOR stuff! We want you to know we're praying for you!! Foster care, adoptions, ttc, pregnancy, marital and significant other "stress" (to put it lightly!), job loss, miscarriage, births, deaths, surgery, housing and financial strain... our loved ones have been through it all and our prayers are with you! We miss those of you who are far away so very much! We're homesick for all of you! Enjoy a few painstakingly chosen pictures from October... Gary and I in "our booth" Geneva College Homecoming 08 The kids for Halloween were a fireman and an OSU cheerleader. Happy Birthday Gary! We love you!! Reece's Blizzard Cake- YUM!! At Texas Roadhouse- B-day Lunch We got him an OSU pillow and matching blanket. Jackie, Connie, Caryn and I at Homecoming Our family in front of Old Main- Geneva College Our Family at the Algonquin Mill Festival Playing in the leaves Jack-O-Lanterns from Milk Jugs Chocolate chip pancakes... Another Algonquin Mill pic. Tyler was obsessed with this train! Our Angel Babies...